UMNO inda buli parti BN lain

DAILY EXPRESS NEWS 21oct08Jeffrey: Umno was fond of threatening componentsKota Kinabalu:Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Vice President, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan called on Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties to be brave not only to voice out their views but to examine their continued association with Umno.

Describing Umno as "in the process of being totally rejected by its own bastion", Jeffrey said that Umno only stops bullying its partners in the BN the moment it knows the risk of being deserted but the party soon show its true colours again.

"After the recent 12th general election, Umno could not stand on its own anymore. Therefore, Umno could not afford to threaten MCA, Gerakan, PBS and other BN component parties to quit, lest Umno lose the seat of government. "In the past 50 years, Umno had been a big bully, unwittingly threatening others of expulsion from BN.

Its arrogance peaked during the time when Umno, by its own sheer majority, said it could rule the country on its own," he said in a statement, Monday. "Remember (former Prime Minister, Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamad once arrogantly said that Umno could rule Malaysia without other component parties. He even said that even without Sabah and Sarawak, Umno could rule the country but now without Sabah and Sarawak, Umno would have lost the Federal (government)".

He said that one must remember how Umno at one time caused MCA to leave BN temporarily while the MCAwas in a leadership turmoil. Umno was not bullying but threatening like when its Youth head, (Datuk) Hishammudin Hussein drew a keris. "Everytime a component party expresses a different view from Umno, they are threatened to leave BN, for instance on the Maang, Penampang issue. PBS and Upko were asked to leave the BN if they did not agree with Umno's view. This was bullying," he said.